2009 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN - Laserfiche WebLink

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11� Although there are a great number of employment opportunities within Gem Lake, few residents are also employed here. Of the 69 responses to the last residential community survey, only seven residents stated that they or someone in their family were employed in the City. Housing Goals and Policies The following goals and policies have been established by the municipal government of Gem Lake with regard to housing: • Continue to encourage low, to very low, density residential development within the existing core area of the City. • Encourage a better variety of housing by adopting wording in the zoning ordinance allowing for different types of housing (townhomes, villas, row houses etc.) as redevelopment occurs, and in the mixed use areas. • Encourage the construction of more dense housing along the transit corridors of County Road E and Highway 61. This is where all of the mixed use plan areas are identified. • Consider participating in the Metropolitan Livable Communities Program. • Encourage the development of life -cycle housing opportunities. • Encourage the rehabilitation and continuous maintenance of existing housing. • Preserve the identity and improve the quality and appearance of existing residential neighborhoods. • Help ensure that all new housing, including affordable housing, adheres to the highest community design, planning and construction standards. • Encourage the preservation of owner -type housing for low and moderate income households. • Protect residential neighborhoods adjacent to commercial developments through physical and/or vegetative buffering, and through the placement of `transitional" land uses on the periphery. Adequate buffering should be an explicit objective of site plan review and approval. • Explore local fiscal initiatives for housing, including but not limited to, the use of housing revenue bonds, tax increment financing, Community Development Block Grants, and Minnesota Housing Finance Agency programs. • Examine alternative transportation services that relate to life -cycle housing opportunities. • Consider adapting the current Gem Lake Planned Unit Development and Cluster Development Standards to allow for more creativity and flexibility with regard to life -cycle housing opportunities. • Consider working with the Ramsey County Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA) in the development of a housing strategy for the City of Gem Lake. • Explore the possibility of participating in region -wide efforts to develop a wide variety of housing types. Affordable Housing Units Needed 201 1-2020 The City of Gem Lake will strive to add 15 units of affordable housing between 2011 and 2020 per Metropolitan Council recommendations. SH9.0 housing plan I page 53